Here comes Distinction

The dream was mooted last year by some of Nigeria’s most outstanding studio artists. Their intention was to situate visual art on the platform of distinction and excellence and to show the public that group art exhibitions should be done with some heal of expertise. This experiment gave birth to Distinction art exhibition led by Abiodun Olaku, Alex Nwokolo, Bunmi Babatunde, Duke Asidere, Edosa Ogiugo, Fidelis Odogwu and Reuben Ugbine.

This year’s edition which began yesterday at the Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos, has an additional artist in the person of Segun Adejuwon who described the idea as the most excellent thing to happen to visual art sector in Nigeria. “You need to identify with distinction, with people who have laudable ideas to take the art to the next level”, Adejuwon decided.

According to Olaku while addressing reporters, this year’s edition is a sequel to last year’s “because people have been asking us to re-enact what he did last year. People, indeed art collectors and patrons are in love with the sort of art we displayed last year. So, we need to move further than that to showcase what we have to the public”, he said.

Sponsored by Kunle Tinubu of Trojan Estate, Lagos, the over forty works on display have an array of assemblage cutting across paintings, sculptures, mixed media, installation and more. The assemblage of varied works of arts which come in different dimensions and experiments juxtaposes the dream of these artists who eac,h has over twenty years of studio experience behind him. This is why the exhibition is detailed to run for one week to enable the public and visual art lovers have enough time to savour the aura of distinction.

It is also to show how deep these artists have been in their quest to create new ideals. Olaku says “these creations help his pendulum to swing in ceaseless harmony and impulse in obedient to the rhythmic creative energies and emotions of human experience of our world”.

On his own part, Babatunde sums up this excursion as “as a form to express beauty at its best, since I know that it is an intellectual property. Therefore, it is my desire to penetrate any global audience.”